it will all have blown over.’
Araminta shook her head. ‘I don’t think so. You see, Molly, I think Sister Spicer is probably right; I’m not very efficient, and I’m slow. I like looking after people and somehow there’s never enough time. Oh, you know what I mean—someone wants a bed pan but I’m not allowed to give it because the consultant is due in five minutes—that sort of thing.’
‘You’ve not been happy here, have you, Mintie?’
‘No, to be honest I haven’t. I think it will be best if I go and see the Principal Nursing Officer and tell her I’d like to leave.’
‘You don’t want to give it another try?’ someone asked, but Araminta didn’t answer because the warden had put her head round the corner.
‘Nurse Pomfrey, you’re to go to the consultants’ room immediately.’
She went out, banging the door after her.
‘Mintie, whatever is happening? Why do you have to go there?’
Araminta was at the door. ‘I’ll come back and tell you,’ she promised.
Dr van der Breugh was standing with his vast back to the room, looking out of the window, when she knocked and went in. He turned round and gave her a thoughtful look before he spoke.
‘Have you decided what you want to do?’
‘Yes, I’ll go and ask if I may leave. At once, if that’s allowed. But I don’t suppose it is.’
‘And what do you intend to do?’
‘It’s kind of you to ask, doctor,’ said Araminta, hoping that her voice wouldn’t wobble. ‘I shall go home and then look for the kind of job I can do. Probably they will take me back at the convalescent home.’
They wouldn’t; someone had taken her place and there was no need of her services there now. But he wasn’t to know that.
‘I feel responsible for this unfortunate state of affairs,’ said the doctor slowly, ‘for it was I who persuaded you to look after the twins and then arranged for you to come here. I should have known that it would be difficult for you, having to catch up with the other students. And Sister Spicer…’
He came away from the window. ‘Sit down, Mintie, I have a suggestion to make to you. I do so reluctantly, for you must have little faith in my powers to help you. I have a patient whose son is the owner and headmaster of a boys’ prep school at Eastbourne. I saw her today and she told me that he is looking urgently for a temporary assistant matron. The previous one left unexpectedly to nurse her mother and doesn’t know when she intends to return. I gave no thought to it until I saw you this evening. Would you consider going there? You would need to be interviewed, of course, but it is a job with which you are already familiar.’
‘Little boys? But how can I take the job? I am not sure, but I expect I’d have to give some sort of notice.’ She added sharply, ‘Of course I have faith in you, I’m very grateful that you should have thought of me.’
‘But if it could be arranged, you would like the job, provided the interview was satisfactory?’
‘Yes. You see, that’s something I can do—little boys and babies and girls.’ She paused, then explained, ‘It’s not like nursing.’
‘No, I realise that. So you are prepared to give it a try? I have seen the Principal Nursing Officer. If you go her office now you may make a request to leave. It is already granted, but you need to go through the motions. I will contact my patient and ask her to arrange things with her son. You should hear shortly.’
He went to the door and opened it for her. ‘I will drive you home tomorrow morning. Ten o’clock in the forecourt.’
‘There is really no need…’ began Araminta. ‘I’m perfectly able…’
‘Yes, yes, I know, but I have no time in which to argue about it. Kindly do as I ask, Mintie.’
If he had called her Miss Pomfrey in his usually coolly civil way, she would have persisted in arguing, but he had called her Mintie, in a voice kind enough to dispel any wish to argue with him. Besides, she loved him, and when you love someone, she had discovered, you wish to do everything to please them.
She said, ‘Very well, doctor,’ and added politely, ‘Good evening.’
She went off to the office, buoyed up by the knowledge that if Marcus had said that everything was arranged, then that would be so and she had no need to worry. She knocked and, bidden to enter, received a bracing but kind lecture, a recommendation to find work more suited to her capabilities and permission to leave.
‘Be sure and hand in your uniform and notify the warden. There is no need for you to see Sister Spicer.’ She was offered a hand. ‘I have no doubt that you will find exactly what you want, Nurse.’
So Araminta shook hands and got herself out of the office, leaving her superior thoughtful. Really, Dr van der Breugh had gone to great lengths to arrange the girl’s departure. After all, he wasn’t responsible for her, whatever he said. The Principal Nursing Officer wouldn’t have allowed her arm to be twisted by anyone else but him; she liked him and respected him and so did everyone else at the hospital. All the same, he must be interested—such a plain little thing, too.
Araminta went back to the sitting room and half a dozen pairs of eyes fastened on her as she went in.
‘Well?’ asked Molly. ‘Who was it? What’s happened? Was Sister Spicer there?’
Araminta shook her head. ‘No, just me. I’m leaving in the morning…’
‘But you can’t. I mean, you have to give notice that you want to, and reasons.’
Araminta decided to explain. ‘Well, I didn’t come with the rest of you because I was asked to take on a job in an emergency. I did tell you that. But the thing is the person I worked for was Dr van der Breugh—with his nephews—and I went to look after them provided he would do his best to get me a place here as soon as possible. Well, he did, but it hasn’t worked out, so now he has arranged for me to leave. The Principal Nursing Officer was very nice about it.’
There was a chorus of voices. ‘What will you do? Try another hospital? Find another job?’
‘Go home.’
Molly said, ‘It’s good of Dr van der Breugh to help you. I can quite see that he feels responsible—I mean, you obliged him in the first place, didn’t you?’
‘Yes. And he did warn me that he didn’t think I’d be any good at nursing. Only I’d set my heart on it. I’ll start again, but not just yet.’
‘If you’re going in the morning you’ll have to pack and sort out your uniform. We’ll give you a hand.’
So several of them went to Araminta’s room and helped her to pack. She went in search of the warden and handed in her uniform, taking no heed of the lecture she was given by that lady, and presently they all went down to supper and then to make tea and talk about it, so that Araminta had no time at all to think or make plans. Which was a good thing, for her head was in a fine muddle. Tomorrow, she told herself, she would sit
